Identifying the determinants of aggregate judicial performance: taxpayers’ money well spent?

Determinants of judicial efficiency: a survey

“…Controlling for the scope of duties, Voigt and El Bialy (2015) find that this organizational trait is irrelevant for the reported resolution rates. These can include to serve as supreme audit institution, as a business registry, land registry and so forth.…”

“…The original intention was to create an administrative body that was independent of both the legislature and government and that would, hence, help to secure the independence of the judiciary from the other two branches. Based on data from the member states of the Council of Europe, Voigt and El Bialy (2015) find that the existence of judicial councils is significantly correlated with lower judicial efficiency both objectively measured as well as subjectively ascertained. Judicial councils may well impact on judicial efficiency but the effect is unclear ex ante: on the one hand, they might improve efficiency because more of the concrete knowledge at the disposal of the judges can be used to organize their daily routines.…”

“…Based on the member states of the Council of Europe, Voigt and El Bialy (2015) find that neither bonus payments, nor benefits (such as housing, cars, drivers, etc.) Individual calendars containing a variety of deadlines that judges need to comply with to prevent sanctions could be such a device.…”

Measuring Potential Efficiency Gains from Mergers of Italian First Instance Courts through Nonparametric Model

“…10 There is also a growing number of empirical studies that assess the efficiency of Italian courts performance and examine the factors affecting their performance as well as the impact of judicial efficiency on economic performance using microfunded empirical tools. 11 Efficiency assessment represents a first step toward the evaluation of a coordinated judiciary system and constitutes one of the basic means of audit for the rational distribution of human and economic resources (Voigt and El-Bialy 2014).…”

“…Furthermore, the activity of the courts is characterized by low substitution rate between inputs such as judges, clerks, and different kinds of courts. Given the above-mentioned difficulties, the technical efficiency of judiciary has been investigated frequently applying the DEA nonparametric technique that overcomes all the problematic assumptions required by a parametric production function based on parametric techniques (see, for instance, the survey by Voigt and El-Bialy, 2014).…”